


Distance

by edibleflowers



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Coda, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-11
Updated: 2012-09-11
Packaged: 2017-11-14 01:19:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edibleflowers/pseuds/edibleflowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint Barton needs some space.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distance

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the Avengers movie and contains spoilers. This is a brief character exploration piece.
> 
> Originally posted on June 20, 2012, on my Livejournal.

Clint Barton has always preferred high places. In youth, he climbed trees until branches creaked alarmingly beneath him. His circus act involved highwires and feats of daring far above the ring. Later, when SHIELD recruited him, he took eagerly to the role of sniper (albeit with a bow instead of a gun). Seeing the action from afar, able to survey the entire situation and call the shots: it suited him.

After the fighting, after cleanup has begun and they've all allowed themselves to breathe and relax, he finds himself seeking a high place again. Conveniently, Tony Stark has provided an ideal one in the form of his monument to himself. No one seems to mind if Clint climbs up to the highest roof -- where the partly-dismantled tesseract machine still stands for now -- and tries to forget.

It's impossible, of course. Loki stole his willpower, but not his ability to reason or fight. It's all intertwined magnificently in his head, those terrible fingers of light picking through his memories, pushing down some parts of him, tugging others out. Loki had wanted him _functioning_ , after all.

If he could vomit out that poison somehow, purge it from him--

Instead, it had taken Natasha and simple, straightforward brute force to clear out his head. He's grateful -- truly -- both that she brought him back, and for the chance at redemption.

Still...

Crouched on the edge of the roof, Clint ponders the abyss below. The others may joke about his birdlike tendencies, but he knows all too well how human he is. If he leaned forward, he'd fall, and hopefully be dead long before his body reached the pavement.

A scuffing sound on the rooftop gravel catches his attention over the wind in his ears. Clint glances up and back, somehow completely unsurprised to see Erik Selvig there, a few feet back from the edge.

"Not thinking of jumping, I hope," Selvig comments.

"If I was, I'd already be down there." Clint stands, though, and retreats to Selvig's side.

They hadn't talked much at the research facility, but Clint knew of Selvig even before then. The man had been heavily involved with Dr. Foster's research, and thus with the entire New Mexico fiasco. Brilliant, of course, which was why Loki had taken him as well. A little mad in the way all genius scientists seemed to be. Still, Clint had sort of liked him.

"How are you dealing with it?" Selvig asks now, his arms folded around himself. The day is warm, but this high up, the wind buffets them coldly.

Clint shrugs absently. "Dealing," he responds. "As best I can, I suppose."

Selvig's eyes are sympathetic. "You're not alone," he says.

Clint turns to look at Selvig fully, as if for the first time. The man looks -- aged, somehow. During their mind-enslavement, he'd been as one possessed, barely eating, sleeping only when his body could no longer function. He'd been unshaven and wild toward the end; Clint could only wonder what wonders -- and horrors -- the tesseract had shown him. Now, at least, he's clean and looks better nourished, though deep circles still underscore his eyes. Clint rests a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Neither are you," he tells him, and Selvig smiles.

"Then let's go inside? I don't know about you, but I'm freezing up here."

With a laugh that feels close to genuine, Clint nods and follows Selvig back to the stairs. He may not be himself yet, but he's not feeling the need for distance quite as much as before.


End file.
